Unlike a typical three and four wheeled vehicles, in-line, two-wheeled vehicles, such as motorcycles, bicycles, and the like, allow a rider to lean or tilt while turning without urging the rider toward the outside of the turn. Instead, the rider of the in-line two-wheeled vehicle is pushed straight down into the seat as the free leaning motorcycle balances the vertical gravity vector with the horizontal vector created by going around a corner. The faster the rider goes around a corner, the more the in-line two-wheeled vehicle needs to lean.
But two-wheeled in-line vehicles are limited by only having one front tire as well as having the rider sitting high on the vehicle. The one front tire limits the amount of braking and amount of traction that can be achieved.
Efforts to apply tilting characteristics to three and four-wheeled vehicles have had limited success. Examples of such vehicles and their limitations are discussed in greater detail in an article titled “Some Technical Aspects of Tilting Trikes,” by Tony Foale, B. Tech, M. Eng. Sc. dated Mar. 21, 1999, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
In general, these known tilting three-wheeled vehicles are limited by not allowing proper tilt of the vehicle, complex tilting structures that require excessive user interaction, and/or requiring complex control systems to operate effectively.